Brainy Smurf (Empath stories)
"And as Papa Smurf always says..." Brian Lunette "Brainy" Smurf is a Smurf character who is part of the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series. History Brainy was the son of Aristotle Smurf, born as the younger brother of Empath through his mother Lillithina. Because Empath was assumed dead at that point and no knowledge of him was ever shared by his mother, Brainy had no idea that he actually had a brother, but he did assume that Papa Smurf was his actual father, as the relationship between his parents Lillithina and Aristotle was mostly platonic. Besides his need for wearing glasses, the only other thing unusual about Brainy was a small lightning bolt mark on his forehead, which is usually covered over by his hat. Upon discovering this mark, Papa Smurf was told by Paladore's spirit that Brainy had latent magical abilities that needed to be harnessed and disciplined in order for him to become a powerful sorcerer. Like most of his fellow Smurfs his age, he was raised by his parents until an unknown disease had claimed their lives, leaving him in the care of Culliford Smurf, who eventually became known as Papa Smurf. The rest of his personal history, at least at the present point of the story series, is similar to that of his cartoon show counterpart up until around Seasons 5 and 6. About five years after Empath and Smurfette had married, Brainy met his counterpart Librarian from Smurfette Island and married her, producing a daughter who fell in love with Clumsy and Gooseberry's son. In the 1800's, Empath and Brainy became the last living Smurfs of their generation until Brainy was swallowed up by an earthquake, leaving Empath as the sole surviving member of that generation. This would begin the event that Empath would remember as the Diaspora. Personality While sharing some similarities to his cartoon show universe counterpart, Brainy in these stories does defer to Empath's judgment in certain situations where Papa Smurf may not be available to offer his own. It was only after Empath's final return from Psychelia did Brainy discover that he was Empath's half-brother, sharing Lillithina as their birth mother but himself being fathered by Papa Smurf's friend Aristotle. Of course, public knowledge that he and Empath are both half-brothers wins Brainy even less respect from his fellow Smurfs, particularly from Hefty. As a young Smurfling, prior to his being adopted by Papa Smurf as his first adopted son, Brainy dealt with the stigma of being called a "bastard Smurfling" by most of his fellow Smurflings because his mother had him outside of her relationship with her former husband, and was often ridiculed for this. He also discovered he had latent magical abilities when he accidentally cast a spell on Hefty when he was harassing him at one point during his early childhood. This stigma eventually vanished when he became one of many children whom Papa Smurf was in charge of, with Brainy idolizing Papa Smurf to the point of emulation. It was most likely during Brainy's early years that he became friends with Clumsy, who loved him as a friend despite what anybody thought of him. In his spare time Brainy enjoys playing games of strategy like chess, which he constantly plays with Polaris Psyche despite the fact that he always loses to Polaris. He contributes crossword puzzles to the Smurf Village newspaper, which Empath and Papa Smurf enjoy working on. He is also the author of a series of books, most of them being Quotations Of Brainy Smurf, which hardly any Smurf except for Empath reads. Like his father, Brainy has astigmatism, which requires his constant wearing of glasses. Attempts at correcting his vision even with Empath's help have all turned out to be failures; aside from this, Brainy prefers the look that his glasses give him, which still doesn't win him any respect. Brainy has an ornate smoking pipe that he occasionally carries with him to make himself look sophisticated, but never actually does any smoking with the pipe. Brainy has professed to be heterosexual and strongly believes that only males and females should be united together in marriage, believing that is what Mother Nature has decreed from the beginning. Sometime after his return from the Smurfs' time-traveling adventures in The Lost Year, Brainy was disgusted to hear from Empath that his Mirror Universe counterpart actually has a dating relationship with its Clumsy. Also, Brainy tends to be proud of being a male Smurf, though not to the same degree as Hefty, so he finds any change to his gender, as he did at the end of "Another Egg-Citing Day" through unexplained means, to be a violation of his very person. Later in life, upon his friend Clumsy's death, he has admitted to having a loving attraction towards Clumsy that he was afraid of confessing earlier in his life. During The Lost Year, Brainy was one of six Smurfs who actually witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether that event had any impact in his life as far as his beliefs is at present unknown. Relationships * Empath is his half-brother. He is usually very patient and understanding with Brainy, although at times Brainy can test even Empath's patience with his constant meanderings. Most of the time, if anyone wants to bonk Brainy in the head with a mallet with Empath around, Empath would come to Brainy's defense and say, "Nobody hits my brother except me!", even though Empath himself would never personally hit Brainy. * Papa Smurf is his adopted father and teacher in the ways of magic and alchemy, and is usually considered the source of Brainy's constant admiration and respect for his wisdom and intelligence. Brainy at one time assumed that Papa Smurf was his actual biological father until Papa Smurf revealed the truth to both Empath and Brainy. He often invokes Papa Smurf's name in his lectures to his fellow Smurfs, and will often say "I'm going to tell this to Papa Smurf" when he sees a fellow Smurf doing something that he perceives is wrong or is threatening towards him personally. Sometime before his death, Papa Smurf cast the Nocturnal Illumine spell on Brainy so that he would continue to learn sorcery and magic at an accelerated pace in case Papa Smurf wasn't there to train him. * Smurfette is his love interest, though Smurfette personally can't stand being around him because of his behavior. One particular incident of note was when Greedy made for her a special smurfberry cake, Brainy talked her into giving the dessert to him by saying that it would make her gain weight if she ate it. A few years later, Smurfette would hear this coming from Brainy's own mouth in his Imaginarium fantasy of being King Smurf and drag him out of his fantasy by pinching his ear really hard. Despite how he acts toward her, Brainy truly cares about Smurfette and would not want to see her be in any danger if he can help it. One time during Empath's absence in doing errands for Homnibus, Smurfette did spend a night having dinner with Brainy without any incidents happening, barring his earlier transformation into a were-Smurf. * Baby Smurf is one Smurf that he hopes will take after him someday, although Baby is more content to play around with Brainy's glasses and mimic his finger-wagging and babbling. * Polaris Psyche is who he plays chess with, despite the fact that he always loses to Polaris. * Hefty generally dislikes Brainy and will only work with him when necessary. Surprisingly, he tends to be the Smurf who falls for Brainy's promises and schemes, such as being made the captain of the guard during Brainy's brief reign as King Smurf. Most of the time, Hefty would either want to clobber Brainy with a mallet or hurl him out of the village. Brainy collectively refers to Hefty, Tuffy, and Duncan as "The Three Smurfketeers" either out of admiration or just to mock their constant use of muscles over brainpower. * Jokey continually goes after Brainy with all his pranks. * Clumsy is considered his closest friend, despite the fact that he can't stand being around him most of the time due to his ineptitude. He did become surprised to find out that Clumsy isn't as less intelligent as he normally portrayed himself to be, and though Brainy thought of reconsidering his friendship due to the "dumb and fun" facade, he eventually recognized that Clumsy truly admired him for his intelligence. Clumsy at one time offered to be Brainy's "seeing eye Smurf" at a time when he lost his glasses and couldn't see well enough to get around without them. He does learn that Clumsy has attractive feelings for him that go beyond what's socially appropriate for male Smurfs, but he did not confess to have reciprocated those same feelings as long as Clumsy lived. * Tapper tends to be very patient when it comes to dealing with Brainy and will often listen to him, offering some of his own advice in return. The only time Tapper ever got angry with Brainy was around the time of the cartoon show episode "Good Neighbor Smurf" when Tapper actually threw Brainy out of his house for arranging things according to his own liking despite Tapper's instructions for Brainy to leave things alone. Tapper admits that he never likes getting angry with Brainy or with any Smurf. * Duncan McSmurf genuinely likes Brainy, but doesn't like how scared and panicky Brainy gets whenever he's in a situation that's way over his head. * Orbit sympathizes with Brainy because they both share poor eyesight (with Orbit's eyes being light-sensitive, requiring him to wear wraparound sunglasses). Orbit occasionally helps Brainy get around the village whenever he loses his glasses. * Snappy is a ladybug who acts as Brainy's personal recorder when he needs to remember things for later. * Sophia is his daughter whom he fathered with his wife Librarian. She has trouble believing that her own father was really the infamous King Smurf and so has written a fictional story that proposed the idea that Anonymous was the Smurf that became King Smurf (or in her version, Lord Smurf the First) instead of Brainy. Role Brainy's original role in the Smurf Village was being the curator of the Smurf house of archives as well as an educator to his fellow Smurfs, given that his intelligence level is considerably higher than that of his fellow Smurfs. After Hefty was removed from being the assistant leader, the position was given over to Brainy, and then later was given to Empath. His current role, if he is not helping Papa Smurf with his experiments, is watching after and teaching the Smurflings, a situation that makes both Brainy and the Smurflings unhappy with each other, though Brainy is willing to prove himself to be a suitable role model to the younger Smurfs. However, the Smurflings are more likely to humorously put down Brainy whatever chance they get for doing so. Around the time that the Smurflings first came into the Smurf Village, Brainy was in charge of conducting the Village Smurphony Orchestra after Papa Smurf had retired from the position. It was during that year's Smurfstock Festival that the Smurflings performed "Smurfbop" as their debut song, which made Brainy envious that most of his fellow Smurfs would prefer listening to the Smurflings style of music than that conducted by the orchestra, and even more upset that the song would cause most of his fellow Smurfs to depart from the orchestra to form their own musical bands. Even Papa Smurf was inspired by the song to come up with his own music similar in style to the Smurflings. As a result, Brainy in particular doesn't like listening to "Smurfbop" and is a bit stern in his treatment of the Smurflings. At Empath and Smurfette's wedding, Brainy was given the escort position, presenting the bride to her husband. In Sophia Smurfette's fictional acccount of the reign of King Smurf (or Lord Smurf the First), Brainy served originally as Anonymous' election opponent, then as a loyal follower, then as part of the rebellion when Anonymous exerted his authority as king by putting Jokey in prison, and then finally as a prisoner who awaited liberation from the rebels. Abilities Brainy is considered to be very intelligent, though the application of that intelligence leaves something to be desired among his fellow Smurfs. As Papa Smurf's apprentice, he has some level of knowledge in sorcery and alchemy, though like everything else he does, he lacks discipline and proper control, often requiring Papa Smurf or some other Smurf to get him out of a situation that he gets himself and other Smurfs into. Years later, Brainy became a master of sorcery and magic, although his apprentice Miracle proved to be more skilled than Brainy ever was. Brainy is given a beginner's magic wand to practice basic spells with, and over time has graduated to inheriting the Wand Of The Eternals, which he rarely uses in favor of less-powerful wands to keep himself from harming others with his magic. Brainy is one of the few Smurfs in the village that knows the "lost" language of Schtroumpf, although he is not an expert at speaking it, and sometimes gets befuddled whenever Painter Smurf, an expert speaker of Schtroumpf, hurls obscenities at him whenever he gets angry enough with Brainy to speak them. (Like at one time, "Vous êtes un Schtroumpf stupide que vous mangez de la merde des Schtroumpfs pour le petit déjeuner," which in polite terms translates into "You're such a stupid Smurf that you eat Smurf poop for breakfast".) Brainy's knowledge in the language is mostly for interpreting and recording Smurf names in the Smurf Register Of Names, as he has helped Empath discover his recorded name Schtroumpf Empathie. Around Empath's 151st birthday, Brainy became proficient in the written form of Psychelian and gave Empath his first edition of Quotations Of Brainy Smurf translated into that language as a birthday present. Appearance Brainy constantly wears a pair of horn-rimmed glasses with round lenses. Hidden underneath his hat on his forehead is a lightning bolt mark, which very few Smurfs know about. In his later adult years, Brainy would grow a reddish-orange beard and moustache that would eventually become white, and in the latter years of his life, he would wear a robe. His physique as a Smurf is considered slim. Alternate Histories There were at least four alternate histories of Brainy that were seen by Traveler. "Papa Smurf & Mama Smurfette" In one history, he sided with Empath Smurf in the rebellion against Papa Smurf when he married Smurfette and produced a daughter through her. "Hefty, The Luckiest Smurf" In another history, when Empath was returned to Psychelia after a year of living with the Smurfs following his 150th birthday, Hefty fell in love with and married Smurfette, having a daughter with her. With Empath considered gone forever, Papa Smurf had Hefty instead of Brainy promoted to a permanent position as the assistant leader of the Smurf Village, although presumably Brainy was kept as the elder Smurf's apprentice in sorcery. "Empath Goes Wild" In a third alternate history, Brainy meets the Smurf who would have been Empath, who is instead called Wild for he had been raised in the forest for about 150 years instead of in Psychelia, since this version of Empath was born without any of his telepathic or telekinetic abilities. Brainy tried to be Wild's teacher in all things regarding the Smurfs, but eventually lost patience with his half-brother. During what would otherwise be known as The Lost Year, Brainy and all the other Smurfs were trapped in a never-ending journey through time, in which her fate remains unknown. "The Blue Plague" See the article Brainy Smurf (The Blue Plague, Empath stories). Voice Actor His desired voice actor would be Fred Armisen, who is the voice of Brainy in the Sony Pictures Animation's The Smurfs film and animated series. An alternate voice actor for the character would be Danny Pudi, who is the voice of Brainy in Smurfs: The Lost Village. Notes * His character song is "I Like" by Men Without Hats. * He is a cousin of both Chatty and Narrator. * He is perhaps the only Smurf among his generation who is born a child out of wedlock. Empath does discover in an alternate timeline that he visited where he remained in the Smurf Village that Brainy wouldn't have existed if Empath wasn't sent away to Psychelia. * Brainy's birth name Brian is an anagram of the word "brain". * Brainy's lightning bolt mark is based on a similar mark given to Harry Potter in the Harry Potter book and film series. * Brainy learning that he had latent magical abilities through the accidental casting of a spell on a fellow Smurf is based on Harry Potter accidentally trapping his cousin Dudley Dursley within a animal museum exhibit after setting a snake free from it in Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone. * The idea of Brainy learning that he isn't actually Papa Smurf's only begotten son when Empath actually is was introduced in the novel as a shocking swerve to fans of the Smurfs who were looking for a reason that Papa Smurf treated Brainy as being special in the cartoon show. Trivia * According to author Vic George, Brainy was originally intended to be a full brother of Empath and the second son of Papa Smurf, but as that became hard to reconcile without having Brainy being the older brother of Empath, it was decided that he should be a half-brother instead. His illegitimacy is inspired by the interpretation of Will Scarlet being Robin of Locksley's half-brother in the movie Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. See Also * Reporter's Inside Stories: An Interview With Brainy Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf characters Category:Smurfs Category:Males Category:Gag characters Category:Publication Category:Intellectuals Category:Nasally voices Category:Empath's generation Smurfs Category:Smurf Village residents Category:Americus clan Smurfs Category:VicGeorge2K9's articles Category:Characters with glasses Category:Heterosexual characters Category:Constant talkers Category:Bookworms Category:Nature worshipers Category:Fathers Category:Characters born out of wedlock Category:Empath's family members Category:Brainy's family members Category:Multiple media universe imports Category:Cross-gender characters Category:Apprentices Category:Sorcerers Category:Magic wand users